Missing in action
by Twanekellerman
Summary: Believing Naruto had died in a battle, the hidden leaf village griefs. While they mourn his death, Naruto on the other hand begins a new adventure while finding his way back home. (Please send reviews for any changes you feel is necessary. Thanks)
1. Taking the fall

1. TAKING THE FALL.

Rain poured from the heavens as the three young genin and their leader, Kakashi Hatake, readied their weapons for the coming battle. The B-ranked mission they were sent on turned out to be a lot more difficult than they had at first expected. They had been asked to deliver a package to a small village somewhere on the countryside, with the warning that some people might try their luck and attack them for it. At first, aside from having to keep Naruto in check so that he doesn't open the package, the journey has been smooth-sailing. But by the third day they had noticed a small fire glittering in the night sky. The campfire followed them, every night a distance behind them. By the fifth night they had a brake in. The thieves had stolen a package similar to the one they had to deliver; thankfully Kakashi had prepared for such an incidence and had placed a fake in its place, keeping the original on his person. Their luck was not to last though. They were attacked by a team of water ninja at an old bridge crossing a cliff. Now, on this rainy night, they seem to have to fight their way out of this mess.

Taking out a Kunai from her leg holster, Sakura stood ready, but yet somewhat hesitantly. The other members of her team, being more confident, took out their weapons as well. All but Kakashi, who was hoping to resolve this without physical combat. Their opponents grinned in an almost evil manner as the sensei stepper forward. The man who appeared to be the leader of the water ninja group copied Kakashi's movements, stepping forward as well. "What do you want?" Kakashi asked in his calm, emotionless voice. The leader of the opposing party chuckled, his voice sounding rough and deep. "You know what we want. But if I must refresh your memory, we want that little package your delivering to the "Bara no tsubomi" village." The man answered, his comrades giving a sinister laugh. "So you're the ones who have been following us all this time and who broke into our camp?" Sasuke asked, rainwater flowing down his face. "That's right kid, and now we want what we came for." The leader replied.

"Well you're not getting anything from us!" Naruto yelled at them, a stubborn and determined look on his face. The leader grunted as he turned his attention to Naruto. "You should really teach your students to hold their tongue, other ways someone might just cut it out for them." He told Kakashi. "Why you!" Naruto launched himself forward, aiming to land a punch on this guy's stomach. "Naruto don't!" Sakura tried to stop him, but it was of no use. Once Naruto set his mind on something, he usually did it. As he came close to the man however, the man hit him on the chest right in the opening between his ribs. This sent Naruto flying backwards, landing with his backside in the mud from the rain.

Naruto coughed and gasped for air. The man had knocked his breath out of his lungs. Kakashi glanced in his direction, making sure his pupil wasn't too hurt. He sighed. Naruto just would not learn to be patient and to ignore comments that are upsetting and he probably never would. He's too stubborn for that.

"That was not an action that is wise in a negotiation." Kakashi sort-of apologized to the man. But frowning he added: "However. I do agree that you won't get the package." This did not seem to please the three men they were apposing. "Oh well. We could have come to a friendly deal, but it looks like we're going to have some fun now." The leader said an evil smile across his face. "Prepare to lose that package, along with your lives!" He yelled, taking out a few shuriken and sending them flying through the air towards Kakashi. Before they struck their target Kakashi vanished, leaving the shuriken to imbed themselves into a nearby tree. "What the?" The leader asked in confusion, not realizing that he had reappeared behind him. By the time he did realize Kakashi had already lift his headband, revealing his sharingan eye. As they struck at each other Naruto, who had by now recovered, launched an attack on one of the man's henchmen, knowing Sasuke and Sakura would handle the other. The rather old looking man gave him a cruel smile. "You're in over your head boy!" The man said. He ran towards Naruto, gripping a Kunai in his hand. He took a blow for his head, missing by only an inch. Naruto struck back. His fists met the man's stomach with great power. The man pulled back giving Naruto just enough time to use his "Shadow clone jutsu" and make three clones of himself. Now that there are four of him it would be harder for his enemy to land a punch. This did not bother the man though as he swung his arm at one of the boys. A metallic wristband covered in small hooks that had been attached to his arm would make the blow more significant. His arm met its target and the young boy figure he had struck at disappeared in a puff of smoke. Only a clone. "Be careful, next time you won't be so lucky." The man warned. "What makes you think there will be a next time?" Answered all three the boys in unison. They ran forward striking at his stomach, chest and face. He fought back, reducing another of the clones to nothing but smoke.

As they struggled the man managed to cut Naruto on the arm, breaking his concentration and allowing the man to destroy the last of the clones. "It's only you now boy. And it looks like your friends are too busy to help you." Said the man revering, to Sakura and Sasuke who were still fighting it out with the other henchman, and Kakashi who was dealing with the somewhat stubborn leader.

"Yeah, well I don't need their help!" Naruto replied ignoring the stinging pain in his right arm where the man had cut him. "Don't be foolish" The man said stepping towards him. "You have no chance of defeating me." "We'll have to see about that." Naruto said as he launched forward once more. His fist came into contact with the man's left cheekbone, sending him stepping backwards a few feet. While they had been fighting the man had not noticed that they had come dangerously close to the edge of the cliff. Those few steps were all that was needed to push him over the edge. Realizing what had happened he leaned forward, trying to stop the fall. Acknowledging that this was impossible he made one last futile attempted to turn the tides of battle. He reached out his arm and slammed it agents Naruto's wrist. The metallic wristband hooked itself onto Naruto's clothes. If I am going to die today, so will you! The man thought as he tumbled over the edge. The man's bodyweight caused enough force, and a stunned and confused Naruto was pulled over the edge along with him. As they fell, the wristband tour away and they both fell separately. "I told you, you can't beat me kid" The man commented, forgetting for a second that he was falling as well. I am not going to die! Not today! Naruto though as he started chanting the words for the frog summoning jutsu. By the third word he felt his head connect with something hard. No matter He thought. I'll finish the jutsu anyway. He started again with the first word, but his head was spinning. He felt the pitter-patter of the raindrops on his exposed skin and the fierce biting cold fade away. Colors started spinning and darkness ate away at his vision. He faintly heard his name being called before his hearing was stolen away to. He thought of his live, his mission, his friends. And as the last of his strength faded, he thought that this would not be the end, no matter what. Then his strength was gone and his body fell limply down towards the raging river waters below.

Sakura sat silently at the campfire. She and Sasuke had not spoken a word since earlier that evening. Kakashi had been gone quite a wile now and there had been no sign of Naruto's return. As she listened to the peaceful crackling of the fire her mind wandered back to the events of that evening. Sasuke had their foe attached to a tree with his shuriken and she was about to blow him to bits with a paper bomb attached to her kunai when she happened to glance to her left just as Naruto was pulled over the cliff's edge. The pure shock caused her to drop the kunai and if it hadn't been for Sasuke she would have bombed herself. Seeing that one of their comrades had failed, the two remaining water ninja had fled.

They didn't bother chasing after them. Chances are they won't be trying their luck with the small group again soon. Unfortunately it might already have been too late for Naruto. She ran towards the cliff edge, Kakashi and Sasuke not far behind. She had called out his name, but by the time she reached the edge he was nowhere in sight. Kakashi had left her and Sasuke behind and told them to start up a fire. He went to search for Naruto and has not returned yet. Coming back to reality, Sakura hugged her legs. She wasn't cold, but her stomach felt twisted with worry. To think she had actually grown somewhat attached to Naruto. Sure he was an irritating knuckle head who always got between her and Sasuke, but she could not help feeling worried about him.

She glanced at Sasuke, gathering the will to speak. "Do you think he's okay?" She finally asked. Sasuke turned his head to look at his comrade. "Naruto?" He asked to make sure who she was talking about. She nodded. "Most likely." He answered. "He's tough and, as you well know, quite stubborn." This made her feel better. Sasuke was right of course. A rustling in a nearby bush made both of them jump. They felt relieved when Kakashi stepped into the light of the fire. They looked at him, awaiting an answer. None came. Kakashi kept silent, he didn't speak a word. He didn't need to. His face said it all. Naruto was unfound.


	2. Heading Home

2. Heading Home.

Five days had gone past since Naruto's disappearance. Kakashi, Sakura and Sasuke have searched everywhere they could think of with no luck. Unfortunately the only thing they had found was the already decomposing body of a water ninja who had underestimated his enemy. After three days of searching and no sign that they would ever find him they had no choice but to assume the worst. They had to complete the mission and the hidden leaf village needed all the help they could get, especially since they had suffered and invasion from the sound ninja.

After delivering the package to the Bara no tsubomi village they had set out to return home. The journey back home was rough. There had been no ninja attacks along the way, but the small party walked in silence and that silence was almost a torture. It was times like these, when there was nothing to say, that Naruto would ask a silly question or give an irritating comment. Though it was annoying it always kept the conversation going. And now there was no one to fill that silence. Yet they could not bring themselves to speak. Whenever they started a conversation the topic would always somehow wonder back to Naruto in some way and then the conversation would quickly collapse and leave them yet again in silence. Instead, they passed the time thinking to themselves.

"What are we going to tell the hokage?" Sakura suddenly thought out loud. The fifth hokage, lady Tsunade, had grown a deep connection with the boy. After the tragic death of her younger brother and loved-one she came to believe that dreams were just a waste of time and effort. But, in time, Naruto (being much like her brother and loved-one) had taught her to believe in dreams again. In hope that his dream of becoming hokage would come true she had given him a crystal necklace which had once belonged to the first hokage.

If she were to find out about Naruto she would become an emotional wreck. The village could not afford that at the moment. It needed its hokage to rebuild and repair the damage caused in the invasion. If she were to be incapable of work due to emotional trauma the village was sure to suffer.

"I'm not sure." Sasuke answered, keeping mostly to himself. "Maybe we shouldn't tell her. I mean, Naruto may actually still be okay and then we would be worrying her for no reason." Sakura tried, but she could not even convince herself. "Sakura." Kakashi gained her attention. "Yes Kakashi sensei?" She asked, turning her head to look at him. He was staring at the ground as they slowly walked forward. He looked tired and uneasy, both Sakura and Sasuke could see there was something bothering him. It took him a while to continue.

He sighed heavily and smiled at her. "Don't worry about that, he'll probably come find us before we reach the village. And then you better prepare yourself for a whole week of him complaining about how we left him behind." He told her. Returning his smile she nodded. His words had given her new hope. Though, beep down, Kakashi wasn't so sure about his own words. He couldn't help feeling that wasn't going to happen.

Meanwhile:

Naruto awoke with a start, pain shooting up his right arm. His body was slightly numb and his mussels cramped with the cold. There was a throbbing pain in the back of his head as he slowly opened his eyes. Blinking away the sudden sunlight he waited as his eyes adjusted. He found himself staring up at a clear blue sky. He could hear the flowing of water and feel a cold stream against his legs.

He started to push himself up, but a stinging pain in his right arm caused him to fall back again. This was not going to stop him though as he pushed himself up again, this time using only his left arm. By sitting up his head started spinning and nausea filled him. He vomited. He had suffered a massive blow to the head and had probably obtained a concussion. After his nausea had faded he took a look around him. He had been washed up at the riverbank after the stream had carried him for miles. Now he found himself sitting at the centre of a beautiful flower field. Yellow, blue and pink flowers stretched across a wide aria, bordered by a forest. The river that had carried Naruto all this way seemed to be flowing from one side of the field to the other. As Naruto gazed at his surroundings his attention drifted towards his right arm.

By looking at it he noticed that his skin had been covered with tiny tares and scratches where his clothes had torn away. These were most likely caused by the water ninja's hooked wristband. Great. Naruto thought. Not only am I lost, but that guy tore my favorite jacket. Higher up his arm there was also the cut caused by the kunai knife, but this didn't hurt as much and had in fact already started to heal.

Naruto slowly stood up avoiding as much nausea as possible. He had decided to follow the river upstream, hopefully it would lead back to the cliff and then he could find his way from there. As he took one last look around and headed slowly towards the forest he started to wonder where his comrades were.

Back to the others:

Sasuke gazed at the road ahead of them. They have by now reached the end of their journey. It wouldn't be long until they set sight upon the village. Only another hill, maybe two, then they would see the gates leading to their home. As they reached the top of yet another hill his thoughts were confirmed.

There, not to far away, stood the village. It had improved since they had left. The outer wall had been completely repaired and, by the looks of it, so were most of the houses. Sasuke could see the gates clearly as they approached, he could see the guards noticing them and one of the younger guards heading off to report to the hokage of their return. It took only a while for them to reached the gates and prove their identities. Soon they were walking through the streets of their beloved home again.

The village was quite active that day. People were helping their friends and neighbors repair damaged homes, shopping at the wide range of stalls and shops or were just chatting with friends. Luckily most of the trainers and students were out practicing so they weren't stopped too much along the way and bothered with questions. As they climbed the steps towards the hokage's office their luck ran out the door though. They heard the sound of footsteps behind them. "Wait!" A young boy's voice called as Konohamaru came rushing up the stairs, his two best friends, Udon and Moegi, weren't with him for a change. "Hey Naruto! I heard you were back and I wanted to show you this awesome new…" He stopped in mid sentence as he realized Naruto wasn't there. "Hey, Kakashi sensei. Where's Naruto?" He asked, blinking in confusion. Kakashi smiled at him. "He's at the ramen shop. You know how much he loves ramen." Kakashi answered, thinking fast. It was strange for Sakura and Sasuke to see Kakashi telling a lie like that. Konohamaru looked at them for a while, and then he turned around and ran off again. "Thanks Kakashi sensei!" He called over his shoulder as he sped off. Having done that the small group proceeded up the stairs and through the building towards the hokage's office door.

They stood there for a while. Kakashi slowly knocked on the door. "Come in." Came lady Tsunade's voice from inside. There was no turning back now. They could see lady Tsunade sitting by her desk with Shizune by her side as always as the three of them entered the room. Looking up from her paperwork Tsunade frowned, noticing Naruto's absence, but the frown quickly faded as she first got down to the business at hand. "What's the mission status?" She asked, getting out a piece of paper. "Successful, the package has been delivered to the Bara no tsubomi village as ordered." Kakashi replied. "Any attacks?" Tsunade continued. "Only one. We were attacked by a group of water ninja, but they fled." Sakura answered hesitantly. "Good." Tsunade finished scribbling something on the paper. "Now that that's settled, where's Naruto. I've wanted to talk to him about a new technique I think he should learn from Jiraiya." Sakura fiddled nervously with her thumbs. It was getting hard for her to control her emotions. Thankfully Kakashi answered. "He's at the ramen shop, you know how…" The door burst open before he could finish his sentence. In the doorway stood a confused and slightly irritated Konohamaru. "I went to the ramen shop. Naruto wasn't there and when I asked the cook if he had already left, he said he hadn't seen him in weeks. What's going on?!" He almost yelled. Tsunade glared at Kakashi, a strange feeling of fear and rage filling her within. This new feeling was strong and hard not to react on. Realizing that Kakashi was about to lie to her only made it worse. "Kakashi. Where, is, Naruto?" She almost yelled as well. Kakashi sighed and then turned to face Konohamaru. "Konohamaru, I think you better leave the room."


	3. Friend or Foe?

3. Friend or Foe?

Naruto jumped from branch to branch moving swiftly through the forest all along the river. He had been at it for hours with no sign of any progress. It felt like he was going in circles. And to add to his problems he could somehow feel the presence of someone else, like someone or something was following him just out of sight. He stopped for a moment to catch his breath. Fiddling in his belt pouch for his kunai knife to mark the tree his hand closed around nothing but open space. "Oh, this is just great!" He yelled to no-one but himself. His belt pouch must have opened while he was in the river letting all his ninja equipment fall out. "First that cliff, then this stupid river that just won't end and now all my gear is gone. Can't guy get a brake?" He asked the open air. What's the use? He thought. It's not like anybody is here to hear me.

He still couldn't shake the feeling that someone, or something, was watching him though. Maybe it was the sound of the flowing stream or the wind that played through the leaves of the treetops, but something felt strange about the place. I'm just being paranoid. He told himself. There's no-one here. But the light sound of breathing behind him confirmed the opposite. He felt a soft hand slip over his mouth and in an instant he had moved from the branch he had been standing on to another branch overhead. Naruto spun around in confusion. In front of him stood a girl, her right index finger pressed against her lips. She slowly crouched down and peeked through the leaves that were now surrounding them. Naruto just stared at her in confusion and shock. Not knowing what was going on at all he kept quiet as she told him to. As she had crouched down some of her wavy, coal black hair had fallen over her shoulder revealing a mark on her neck. It looked almost like the head of a dog, but before Naruto could get a better look she brushed her hair back again, covering the mark.

Curious about what she was doing, Naruto crouched down beside her and peeked through the thick wall of leaves as well. Below them, on the branch where Naruto had been standing earlier, there were now two men. Naruto recognized one of them as the scar faced leader of the group that had attacked his small party not too long ago. "You!" He whispered sharply revering to the men below them. He clenched his fists, ignoring the stinging pain the movement caused in his right arm. He was about to go down and confront them when he felt the girl's hand grip his shoulder. He turned to face her. She was shaking her head, and then she tapped her ear with her right index finger and pointed down towards the men. "No, listen." She seemed to be saying. Now that Naruto thought about it, it almost sounded like the two men were arguing about something. He turned his attention back to them.

"I'm telling you Buredo, she's not here. We should be moving on before she gets too far away." The bold headed henchman tried to convince his leader. They seem to be talking about the girl. Naruto thought. "And I told you not to argue with me, Kenonai. If I say she's here then we look here." A slightly irritated Buredo told his comrade. "If Tosho was still here we would have had no trouble finding her." Kenonai continued, not knowing that he was sailing onto dangerous waters with his leader. "I think it's a good thing Tosho is gone! I mean if he got beat up by a kid then he was surely not of much use!" Buredo snapped. Kenonai stepped back slightly as his leader's words knocked him off guard. "Well if you hadn't decided to attack that group of ninja, Tosho would still have been alive now!" Kenonai shot back at his leader. The atmosphere seemed to be getting quite heavy with anger. Buredo took a deep breath trying to calm down. Arguing wasn't going to help them. "Look, let's get back to the situation at hand. If the girl had been here earlier, she is certainly not here anymore. So here's what we do. We find the girl, take that amulet from her using any force necessary and then we use it to wipe out that hidden leaf village. Sound good?" He explained to his comrade. Kenonai nodded, not wanting to argue anymore. With that they set off again, searching for the girl hiding right above their heads.

The girl sighed with relief. "That was close." She said softly, standing up again. Naruto had never been so confused in his life as he stood up as well. "Wait a minute. What was that all about? Do they know you? And, and who are you anyway?" He nearly yelled out of frustration. "Quiet! Do you want them to hear us?!" She snapped at him in a whisper voice, her fern green eyes glaring at him. "To answer your questions, I know about as much about what just happened as you do. I think it's none of your business if they know me or not. And my name is Bara, Bara Okami." She answered him, turning to leave. "Well it's my business now, especially since those two attacked me and my friends not too long ago." Naruto stopped her. This Bara's attitude was beginning to irritate him. However, his last words seemed to catch her attention. "They attacked you? Why?" She asked as she turned around to face him again. Naruto grinned at her, adjusting his headband, which had thankfully stayed on his head and had not gotten lost in the river along with his ninja gear. "Sorry, I can't tell you that. Only elite ninja are allowed to have that information." He sort-of bragged. "A ninja you say?" She asked with a hint of sarcasm. Naruto nodded. "And I take it you were traveling with the other three ninja from the hidden leave village my village had hired to deliver a special package?" She continued, crossing her arms and rolling her eyes. She didn't have time for this. But Naruto was looking at her with a shocked expression on his face. "Was there a tall looking grey-haired man who always wore a mask and a really irritating black-haired kid between them?" He asked. "Well I won't say he was irritating, but yes. How in the world did you know that?" Bara asked, now more interested than ever. "It's a long story, but right now I need to find them." Naruto continued.

"I'm afraid you're a little late, it was like two days ago that we saw them." She told him. "WHAT!?" Naruto yelled. "Two days! That's just great! They must be worried sick by now!" It looked like he was about to go nuts any second. Secretly he was wondering if Sakura was worried about him at all. Then he realized something. "Wait… How did you know about them?" He asked, suddenly almost completely calm. "As I told you earlier, my village had hired them to deliver a package." She answered, now she was the one who was confused. "So you're from the Bara no tsubomi village?" Naruto made sure. "Yes, isn't it obvious? My father even named me after it." She said, rolling her eyes again. "Great! That means you can show me the way. Once I'm there, finding my way home would be easy." Naruto said with a smile. "Um, that's not actually quite possible at the moment." Bara burst his bubble with a sheepish smile. "Why not?"

"Well, you see, the village had been attacked by water ninja the night we received the package. There were so many of them, they threatened to destroy the entire village if the chief didn't hand over the package. He refused and they killed him." Her eyes almost filled with tears as she spoke, but taking a deep breath, she continued. "He knew all would be lost if they got the amu… the package, so before the village was destroyed I was given the package and told to return it to the hidden leave village in till is was safe to return it to it's rightful place. It had gone smoothly for a while, but yesterday I found those two tracking me. Long story short, I have been running from them since, found you standing here in the middle no nowhere and you know the rest." She looked sad as she finished the story.

Naruto was stunned; this girl could possibly have lost everything and everyone she had ever loved. To think she doesn't even know if her loved ones are still alive. And all this about some stupid package. "I'm sorry about your chief. What's so special about this package anyway?" Naruto asked. Bara turned to look at him. "You mean you were delivering the package and you didn't even know what was inside it?" Bara asked shocked. "Well, no. I wanted to open it at one point, but Kakashi sensei wouldn't let me." He replied. "He's the tall man with the spiky, grey hair, right?" Bara made sure. Naruto nodded. "Well, let me put is this way, the package contained something that, if it came into the wrong hands, could destroy a lot of villages." She explained. Naruto scratched his head. "I still don't understand." "Never mind. Hey, you never told me your name." Bara said smiling at him. "My name is Naruto Uzumaki." He said. "Well it's a pleasure to meet you Naruto Uzumaki." Bara said still smiling. "It's getting dark. Wanna help me start up a fire?" Bara asked, watching the sun fall to the west. Naruto, feeling kind of chilly, nodded and they set out in search of firewood.

Later:

It was now completely dark but for the small circle around the fire. Bara had left to go find something in the woods and Naruto had been left to sit by the fire alone. As he sat there his thoughts wandered to Sakura. He wondered if she was okay, if she missed him, if she had anything to eat that day. Then he started to think if he had anything to eat that day. His rumbling tummy answered that question. How he would have loved to be sitting in his favorite ramen restaurant right now, eating a steaming bowl of ramen with Sakura sitting next to him. Yes, that would have been lovely. The mere thought of hot ramen made his mouth water. His thoughts were pulled back to reality as Bara stepped into the light of the fire.

She placed a leave filled with something gooey over the fire and handed Naruto some sort of root. "Here, eat this." Naruto looked at her skeptically. "Don't worry, it's not poisonous, it's a root from a Gibonoshita plant. I even washed it in the river." She said, taking a nibble out of her own root. Naruto eyed his root. "Well I guess you can't have ramen every day." He said with a sigh. Taking a small bite out of the root he nearly spat it out immediately. "Yuck! This tastes like the medicine grandma Tsunade once gave me." He complained, wiping his mouth with his sleeve. "Yes, it's not the most luxurious food ever but at least it's something." Bara said laughing. "I have a question for you." She continued, taking small bites out of her root. "What is it?" "Why do you stick around, I mean you could leave any time you want, I'll even show you the way that leads roughly towards your village. Why do you stay here?" She asked. Naruto smiled at her and scratched his head. "That's easy, your village hired us to safely deliver the package right?" Bara nodded. "So, you see, it's sort of my mission now to ensure that package gets safely returned to our village. Besides, maybe it would impress Sakura if I could pull this off without Sasuke getting in the way." He explained. Bara gave him a teasing smile. "Sakura's the girl right?" Naruto nodded. "Sounds to me like somebody's got a crush." She teased him. "No, I don't! She's just a friend." He protested, but Bara wouldn't listen. "Don't even argue. You've talked yourself into a hole there and you're not gonna get out that easily." She said, slowly taking the leave, which had by now turned black, out of the fire.

"What's that for?" Naruto asked looking at it curiously. "It's for that." She said pointing at his right arm. "It'll slow any kind of infection and relieve some of the pain, but it's not a cure so you'll still have to let a medical-ninja take a look at it." Noticing the confused manner Naruto was looking at her she sighed. "Come on it's not like I wouldn't notice. That cut on your upper right arm and the wound on your lower right arm were probably caused in the same battle, yet the cut is healing a lot faster. Meaning the wound on your lower right arm had probably caught an infection or something. I have also noticed that you slightly flinch each time you make a quick movement or put a lot of strain on it, indicating the infection may have already been there for several days and has by now reached its later stage. The best we can do now is slow it down, but you are going to have to go to the hospital and have some one take a look at it. Otherwise you might lose that arm and that won't be so good if you were hoping to become a great ninja." She told him. He stared at his arm. Could it really be that bad?

Bara took the leave and Naruto's injured arm. Then she put it down over his wound as quickly, yet carefully as she could. A sudden burning pain shot up his arm as the gooey mixture covered his wound. He grinded his teeth, stopping the scream that was desperately trying to escape. Then, just as suddenly as it had came, the pain faded away. "Sorry about that, forgot to mention that it might sting a little." She apologized, binding the leave to his arm with some pieces of cloth. "There, all done." She told him. "Now, if you don't mind, I'll be going to sleep. And since you're gonna tag along I suggest you get some sleep as well." She said, finding a comfortable spot and lying down. Naruto, being tired himself, did the same. Bara smiled to herself. "Have nice dreams about (yawn) Sakura." She teased him before drifting off to sleep.


	4. Funeral

4. Funeral…

It was rainy. A drizzle has began to fall and would soon become a full out storm, but at the moment this didn't trouble the citizens of the hidden leave village that have gathered together on this day. They had come to morn the death of their fellow ninja, Naruto Uzumaki. A lot more people have come than at first anticipated. Most of the rooky-nine were there, all but Hinata, who hadn't been seen leaving her house in days. Then there was also Kakashi sensei, Might Guy along with Rock Lee, Konohamaru (and friends), Iruka sensei, lady Tsunade, Shizune and even Teuchi and his daughter Ayame (the owners of the Ramen Ichiraku stand).

It was hard to believe lady Tsunade had come. She hadn't talked to anyone since she had heard the news and had slacked out on her duties as hokage. She had refused to do any paperwork at all and her desk had by now been piled with stacks of paper. Even Shizune hadn't been allowed into her office. Most of the days that had passed she had spent sitting at her desk, staring at the empty pages that lay in front of her as if she could let her sorrow flow out of her fingertips, fill them with words, and then she would watch as they slowly faded away, leaving her free of all bad feelings and opening a new place in her hart, ready to be filled with the love of her friends. But instead of a new opening, her hart refused to let the chamber filled with all the memories and feelings for Naruto become lost. It was impossible for her to let go.

The ceremony wasn't something you could call "big". All they basically did was have a moment of silence and had Naruto's name engraved on the Memorial Stone. A few tears escaped Sakura's eyes as she remembered the first time Kakashi had told them what is was for.

_Flashback:_

_Kakashi was walking up to the strangely shaped stone. "Did you look at this stone, the names engraved on it?" He had asked coming to a still stand in front of it. "They are all ninja who are honored as heroes in our village" He continued. "That's it! That's it! That's it! Now I know. I've decided I'm going to have my name engraved on that stone. I'm not gonna live and die for nothing like a dog, I'm gonna be a hero, a HERO!" Naruto yelled from the back where he was still tied to the stake for trying to eat his food earlier than they were allowed. "They are, a special kind of hero." Kakashi informed the three of them, turning his head slightly to look back at them. "Uh? What kind of heroes are they? Come on tell us." Naruto had a curious grin across his face. Kakashi didn't answer. "Well? Well?" Naruto continued to urge him on. "They are all K.I.A." Kakashi answered, a slight hint of sadness in his voice. "Oooo... That sounds cool." Naruto continued, having no idea what K.I.A. meant. "It means "killed in action", they all died." Sakura, who was standing almost at his side, informed him. Naruto's smile faded and was replaced by a sorrowful look. He had definitely changed his mind…_

_(Flashback ends)_ Back to the present:

The ceremony hadn't lasted long and by now most of the people that had came were now heading home or seeking shelter from the rain, which was now shooting down from the heavens like a trigger-happy machinegun. Sakura was the last to leave. She had been staring at the Memorial Stone when she suddenly realized was the only person still there, and that her clothes had been drenched to the skin. Shivering with cold, she decided to head home as well. As she slowly walked forward the howling of the wind in the trees and the sound of the falling rain brought back painful memories of that fateful night. For some reason she suddenly grew worried about Hinata. She knew Naruto meant a lot to her, though she tried to hide it, and the fact that she hadn't left her house made Sakura anxious. Not knowing way exactly, she changed direction and started heading towards Hinata's house. By the time the house came into sight the wind was blowing so hard it felt like hurricane Katrina could have been just a light breeze. Luckily it only felt that way and wasn't truly that bad. As she came closer, Sakura realized the front door of Hinata's house was wide open. Could somebody be here already? She thought, approaching the front door. Stepping into the building the wind subsided a little. Water dripped from her wet clothes onto the wooden floor. Taking off her shoes to prevent them from leaving a muddy trail through the house, she heard voices coming from down the hall. Slowly she followed them, listening at how they became louder and more clear the closer she came. She could identify them by now and as she turned around a corner she saw the owners.

Kiba (along with Akamaru hiding in his jacket), Shino and Shikamaru were gathered around a bedroom door. "Please Hinata. You can't stay in there forever." Shikamaru called out towards the door. "Yes I can." Hinata's muffled voice came from the other side. "What's going on?" Sakura asked as she joined them. "We were worried about Hinata so we came to check on her. Turns out she jammed the door from the inside and we can't open it without breaking it down." Shino informed her. "Hey, that's an idea. How about Akamaru and I blow a hole in the door." Kida tried his luck. Akamaru barked, agreeing with his master. "We can't do that, not unless one of you is willing to pay for the damage." Shikamaru told him with a sigh. "This is such a drag." Shikamaru muttered to himself. "Please just come out." Shino pleaded. They could hear the sound of Hinata crying softly through the door. "No! I'd rather die of starvation than leave this room again!" Her voice came more sharply this time. It felt strange, hearing Hinata yell like that. To be honest Sakura couldn't remember having ever heard her yell before. "Let me try." She offered, stepping towards the door.

"Hinata." She called softly. No reply. "Hinata look, I'm not going to ask you to come out, I'm just asking that you listen to what I say." Again no reply, but at least the crying faded a little. Now Sakura had to think fast. "Look, I know how you feel. It's hard to lose someone you care for. I have never met anyone in my entire life that hasn't been touched by the death of a loved one. I don't think someone like that even exists." Tears started pricking her eyes again. "But… But it's what we do about it that makes us who we are, and what gives us the chance (slight pause) to become who we hope to be. And we're not alone; we have friends who help us through times like these." Tears were now streaming down her face two. The others stared at her, not sure if they should say something or not. "It's those friends who remind us why we are here… What our purpose in live is. And…" She put her head against the wooden door. Tears that have trickled down to her chin dripped onto the floor, mixing in with the puddle of water that had dripped from her wet clothes. As she spoke, memories of the times Naruto had been there for her had filled her mind. She had never realized, in till now, how hard he had tried to gain her attention. And she had pushed him away, always focusing her attention on Sasuke, when Naruto had been there for her all along. "And it's those friends we should cherish." She finished. The wind could be heard howling around the corners of the house. A sound of furniture being moved came from behind the door. Hinata opened it and, moving forward, hugged Sakura. "I'm sorry." Is all she could say. Sakura hugged her back and the two of them cried on each other's shoulders. "I'm so sorry…"


	5. Guardian of the Amulet

Chapter 5: Guardian of the Amulet.

While most of the people in the village had gone home to shelter from the raging storm, Naruto and Bara had only the roof of trees to shield them. And that "roof" was definitely riddled with holes. This was proven as another fat drop landed smack on Naruto's nose. The water that splashed into his eyes momentarily blinded him and he nearly leaped straight into a tree as they moved swiftly through the forest. "Are you sure this is the safest way through the forest?" He asked Bara, literally having to yell over the sound of the rain. "Kind of. I've seen a map that shows the quickest way through here. If I remember correctly we should be able to see the "Gake no aki" mountain soon." "Wait! So the only thing that we have to know where we are going is your memory of a map?!" The boy almost panicked, the fact that they may be well lost by now wasn't very reassuring. For all he knew, they could be heading straight towards the ocean. His new friend, having grown tiered of yelling all the time, landed with a soft thump on one of the many branches. He did so two, coming to a stop on the same (unusually wide) branch.

"Don't worry. I have a good memory." Bara tried to calm him down. "And since we have stopped, we might as well take a break." She continued while sitting down on the wide branch, grateful for not having to yell as much any more and not minding that her grey-and-white pants and black overskirt was being smudged with a mud like dirt from the wooden seat. "While we are resting, there is something that I wanted to ask you." Naruto said as he leaned against the base of the tree. "What." The, now soaked with rainwater, girl asked as she quickly glanced up at him from where she was sitting, but then turned her attention back to a piece of tree bark she had started fiddling with. "I was just wondering where you learned to jump like that. The only people I know who can do that are all ninja like me." He explained. The girl still didn't look up from the "extremely interesting" piece of bark.

"My father taught me. He used to help teach young children self-defense. He always said that a girl needed to be able to protect herself" She explained, smiling to her self as she remembered the first time she managed to punch him, unfortunately he hadn't expected her to hit so hard and was left with a bruise on his arm for weeks. "What does he do now days?" Naruto asked after he shook some of the rainwater out of his spiky blond hair. Bara didn't answer for a while, still fiddling with the bark. "Nothing." She finally answered. "Why not?" Curiosity got the better of the young teen. Sure, it's fun to take a vacation once in a while, but to do nothing every day didn't sound fun at all. His fellow traveler broke the "extremely interesting" piece of bark in two. "He's not here anymore." She replied softly. There came a slightly shocked expression upon the boy's face as he realized what she meant. He felt sorry for bringing up the conversation. Bara, on the other hand, had sensed that the conversation was becoming to depressing. This caused some sort of chemical-like reaction in her brain that instantly lifted her mood. It was this strange reaction that enabled her to stay calm and easily handle emotional situations, it was also the reason why she was seen as "slightly weird" by some of the other villagers. This reaction also made her stay almost happy even if somebody was rude to her for no reason-what-so-ever.

She looked up at Naruto, smiling at him. "But enough about me. Why don't you tell me a bit more about yourself?" She asked. He smiled back at her, relieved that he didn't seem to hurt her feelings. "Like what?" He asked, scratching the back of his head. "Like… what do you do in your free time?" She asked curiously. She had never gone far from her village and was interested about what other villages do. She would have given anything to experience what it was like to live in another village. "On a day like this, I would go to my favorite ramen stall, Ramen Ichiraku. Then I would buy myself a nice, hot, steaming bowl of ramen, and when I've finished that bowl, I would buy another." He said, his mouth watering at the mere thought of ramen. "Oh. Does _Sakura_ go with you?" Bara teased. "No." He answered simply. Secretly he wondered if he asked her, would she go with him? "And you, what do you do in your free time?" He asked, changing the topic. "Well, on most days like this I'm not allowed to leave the house, so I stay busy by writing poetry." She answered with a sigh as she thought of all the hours she had wasted indoors while she could have been outside, playing in the rain and throwing people with mud balls. "What's po-to-re?" Naruto asked in confusion. This got him a "you don't know?!" look from Bara. "_Poetry_ is when someone uses words to describe a feeling, smell, sound or sight." She tried to explain. The boy frowned as he thought deeply about what she has just said. Then he shook his head. "I still don't get it." Bara sighed hopelessly. "Maybe you would understand better if I gave you an example." She said, digging through all the tiny files in her mind, searching for one of her more successful poems. She smiled as she remembered one of her earlier works, it even suited the situation they were in. "Okay, listen to this and then tell me what it makes you think about."

"Clatter, splatter, Pitter-patter.

A bolt of light that brightens the night.

Now a sound that comes like a thousand drums that makes the air tremble with its might.

Into the ground the water now goes,

Tomorrow you'll see it as the green grass grows."

She looked curiously at her friend, wondering what he thought of her "masterpiece". Naruto thought for a while. The silence was suddenly interrupted by a loud roar echoing from the boy's stomach. He smiled sheepishly. "I'm sorry, but the only thing my tummy wants to think about is food." He said, scratching his head. (This is one of those moments where a big sweat drop appears next to the other person's head). "Never mind." She said, standing up and wiping some of the dirt clinging to her skirt off with her hand. "We better get going if we want to reach "Gake no aki" mountain before nightfall." As she stood ready to continue through the forest, she heard a strange sound above the noise of the storm. It almost sounded like something thin was being pulled through the air with great speed. Before she could fully identify the sound, a thin wire hit their legs and coiled itself around them. The wire pulled them down off the branch and straight into the muddy water below. Two things were certain:

They weren't alone.

Her favorite outfit would never be the same again.

Pushing themselves up out of the water, which came up to their knees, they could make out two figures standing in the shadows of the trees. "Well, well. Look who got caught in our little trap." Came a deep, rough voice from one of the figures. They stepped forward, allowing some of the light that managed to reach the forest floor to fall on their faces. Buredo and his trusted follower smiled cruelly at them. "If it isn't that pesky girl we have been having such a hard time tracking down." He smiled at Bara's wet figure. "And not only has the moth flown into the web, but is seems she has also brought her friend into the spider's lair." He said as he turned his gaze towards Naruto. The smirk disappeared from his face and was replaced by a stunned expression as he recognized the shock of blond hair and the orange jumpsuit as that of the kid who had pushed their comrade off the cliff days ago. How can it be, that this child survived while their friend was sent to the next life? "You! How are you still alive!?" He yelled at the boy. Naruto gave him a taunting smile. "You're going to have to do better than a cliff and a few minor cuts to get rid of me." Buredo glared at him. "Last time you were lucky. This time you won't live to see another day!" He yelled. He turned his head slightly towards Kenonai. "You take care of the girl." Then turning back to Naruto: "I'm gonna squeeze that neck of his in till the last ounce of strength is drained from his body…" He stepped towards the young teen, hatred in his icy-grey eyes.

"Yeah?! We'll see about that!" Naruto yelled as he put his hands together. "Shadow clone…" "OH NO YOU DON'T!" Buredo yelled as he put his arm forward. His hand looked as if it was grabbing something, like he was crushing something with his hand. There came a sudden, intense cold over Naruto's arms and hands. He watched in horror as the water that fell from the sky and landed on his arms froze in an instant, covering both his arms in a rock hard ice crystal. "We wouldn't want you to use those hands of yours for jutsu now would we?" The scar-faced man said as he stepped forward once more. Great! Naruto thought as he struggled with his hands. Not only has he stopped me from using my hands, but me feet are still rooted to the ground by that wire as well. He started building up chakra in his hands, feeling the ice start to melt as the power increased. An intense pain shot up his right arm again. It was worse than before, it burned like a fire. Not even the cold of the ice that had numbed his skin seemed to help.

Meanwhile Bara was stunned. She couldn't bring herself to move. This wasn't like the training she had done with her dad; this was a real life or death situation. She swallowed as a panicking feeling started to rise up within her. "What's the matter?" Kenonai asked as he stepped towards her. "The princess to scared to help her friend?" He grinned at her mockingly. She gasped in shock. "Princess? What does he mean 'princess'?" Naruto asked in sudden confusion, the ice still secretly melting over his hands. Both of the men stopped. Buredo gave a small laugh. "So, you never told him." He said, shaking his head as if disappointed. "Looks like you can't trust anybody these days." He said with an evil smile. "What is he talking about? Bara, what's going on?" Naruto was confused as ever. "Come on princess, tell your _friend_ what's going on." He pushed her with his words. She couldn't speak, she couldn't do anything but listen. Kenonai sighed. "Well if you won't tell him, I will." He said turning to face Naruto. "Your so called friend here never really told you much about her past, has she?" He asked. Not waiting for an answer, he continued. "She wasn't just some ordinary girl in her village, she was raised by none other than the village chief. Cared for by him like she was his own." He continued with a smile. "While in reality she was nothing more than a street rat!" Tears started running down her cheeks, mixing with the rainwater that ran down her face. "Bara…" Naruto glanced at her in confusion and shock. A few more tears escaped her eyes as she remembered the events of the day she met her "father".

_Flashback begins:_

_The wind was blowing cold that winter. A lonely four-year-old girl was sitting in an alleyway, watching as some people passed the faintly glowing streetlight. Most of them were returning home after a day of work or a trip to the store. One passer-by stumbled over a lose paving stone and dropped a piece of bread. Not noticing what had happened, the man continued on his way home. The girl watched as he slowly walked away. She ran clumsily towards the sidewalk, picking up the bread in her filthy little hands. She hadn't eaten in days and this might just be her last chance to ever find food again. She looked at the piece of bread in wonder; she had never seen such a big piece in her life, not to mention held it in her hands. She didn't even realize it was only half a loaf. Her stomach rumbled fiercely. Looking in the direction the man who dropped it was walking she figured he hadn't seen her. The man kept walking forward, beep into the though that the sidewalks needed repairing when he felt a small tug at his shirt. He stopped and turned around slowly, wondering what it could be. In front of him stood the little girl, her arms stretched out above her head, witch was facing down, holding out the small piece of bread. She didn't want to look up at the man, she felt too ashamed about making the bread dirty with her little hands. She felt the bread being lifted out of her hands, but the sound of the man's footsteps as he walked away didn't follow. Feeling curious about why the man wasn't leaving, she slowly looked up. She found herself looking up at none other than the chief of their village. It was only good manners for her to look down again, but she couldn't bring herself to. Not only was she looking the chief in the face, but he was smiling at her. "Thank you." He said in a calm voice. "And what is your name." She hesitated. "Can you speak?" The man asked after a while of silence. She nodded. "Well…" He urged her on. "Bara." She finally answered, her voice soft as a whisper. "Well then Bara, where do you live?" The girl pointed towards the alley she had been sitting in earlier. "Do your parents live there?" She shook her head. "Where are they?" She lifted her shoulders up to her ears and let them drop again. The man nodded in understanding. "Well then, I think you should come with me. There are some people that I'm sure would like to meet you." He turned around and started walking away. She stood there for a moment, and then she ran forward clumsily and started following him._

_Flashback ends:_

It's been such a long time since that day, it's a wonder she could still remember it. "Maybe it would be a good thing if we kill her, then she could be with that idiot 'father' of hers!" Kenonai went on. "Shut-up." Bara said under her breath. "What was that?" He asked mockingly. "I said, Shut-up!" She looked him in the eyes, her fern-green eyes ablaze with anger. Remember how I told you there was some sort of chemical reaction in her brain that kept her from getting sad or angry? Well, like with almost everything else, there is a downside. And unfortunately for Kenonai, the downside is not in his favor. Every once in a while, if she had been under a lot of pressure or had experienced a sudden shock, Bara would snap. The result is usually that she becomes uncontrollably angry. Wind started spinning around them as she started building up chakra, one of the tricks her dad tough her. Kenonai and Buredo stepped back in shock. Naruto broke the ice crystal, glad to be able to move his fingers again, though he had no idea of what was going on.

Bara lifted her hand towards her mouth and bit a hole in her thumb. Grinning confidently at the two men she smeared the blood in a line down her left arm. "Kaze. No. Toboe." She chanted, placing her arm on the water. A sparkling blue light streamed out of the mark on her neck. The light was almost as blue as Naruto's eyes. It surrounded them, forcing anyone and everyone to close their eyes. Then it disappeared just as quickly as it came. Now, in front of Naruto and Bara, stood 7-foot-high, two headed, black-and-white wolf. "Why have I been summoned here? Are you in trouble, young Bara?" The beast asked in a low yet gentle voice. "I have summoned you, Arashi no kokoro, to help us protect the amulet of Kaisetsu. I have summoned you because you are the true guardian of the amulet."

**My longest chapter yet (and personally my favorite). And in-case you ask: Yes Bara does have a photographic memory, she also has a slightly messed up personality that sometimes changes for no reason. Yes, there will be fighting in the next chapter. Naruto is still the main character (though this chapter revolved around Bara). And yes, the mark on her neck is in the shape of the wolf's head. Thanks for reading and feel free to review (I can only improve that which I know needs improving so please let me know:)**


	6. Arashi no kokoro

_Previously:_

_"Why have I been summoned here? Are you in trouble, young Bara?" The beast asked in a low yet gentle voice. "I have summoned you, Arashi no kokoro, to help us protect the amulet of Kaisetsu. I have summoned you because you are the true guardian of the amulet."_

_Now:_

Chapter 6: Arashi no kokoro

The beast growled at Buredo and Kenonai, his white fangs gleaming in the faint light. "What… what is that?" Kenonai staggered backwards a few feet. "I am Arashi no kokoro, leader of the Gekko wolf pack and protector of the bearer of the mark." He answered, his voice a low growl. His mouth didn't move as he spoke and the voice seemed to be telepathic. Bara smiled as she jumped lightly onto Arashi's back. She sat down at the bases of his necks and put her arms around both of his heads, hugging him tightly. "I missed you." She said to him in a whisper voice. "I missed you two, young Bara." Replied the majestic wolf.

"How sweet, now we can kill her puppy as well." Buredo mocked with a grin. Naruto gave him a mocking grin right back. "Oh yeah? I don't think so. Multi shadow clone jutsu!" He yelled as he finished the hand signs. While the men had been distracted by the appearance of Arashi, he had taken the opportunity to build up a lot of chakra. The result was that there was now at least fifty more of him standing in the water or in the trees above their heads. But the man didn't lose his cocky expression. "You think a few shadow clones are going to help you? All that you could possibly achieve through this it to delay you certain death." He said with a chuckle. "You're very confident…" "… for a guy who is completely outnumbered." Called two of the boys from different places in the crowd. "That doesn't matter. It won't take long for me to poke holes in your friends in till only the real you is left." As he spoke he put his hands together. "Ice crystal forest!" The water underneath some of the boys shot up as they froze into deadly spikes. Almost a third of the clones were destroyed on the spot, but before the smoke cleared five others shot through the air heading straight for Buredo.

Arashi leaped forward, his right front paw moving effortlessly through the air. His paw was about to connect whit Kenonai's chest when the bold headed man suddenly moved the water around him, making a circular shield around him as the water froze. "Look out!" Bara jelled as ice spikes grew all over the shield's surface. Arashi managed to evade the spikes just in time as one or two pricked his skin. Meanwhile; Buredo was slicing Naruto's clones with a water whip. The water followed his every command as he moved his arms graciously as if he was doing some sort of dance. The amount of clones became less with every passing minute. Some of them jumped at him again, this time blocking most of his attack with their arms. Though most of them were destroyed, two managed to get through and kick him hard in the abdomen. As he stepped back Kenonai widened the shield, melting a small "doorway" in the ice and allowing his injured friend to enter before it hardened again.

"Why are you hiding in a shell? Come on out here and fight!" Yelled a Naruto, one of the few left, from a nearby tree. Soon after that large ice spikes shot from the tree's wet branch, reducing the Naruto to smoke. "They are clever." Came the low gentle voice of Arashi. "Huh? What do you mean?" Naruto, or a clone, asked in confusion. "One maintains the shield while the other directs attacks on the outside. That way they can attack and defend at the same time." The large wolf explained. "Can you think of any way to get through their shield?" Bara asked, but before Arashi could answer they had to dodge yet another cluster of spikes that was forged out of the water they were standing in. "No I can not." The wolf said as he landed gently in the water. "Well then, let's see if we can break it open." A Naruto said as he jumped straight towards the spiky ball. He readied himself to kick a smooth spot on its surface, but before he could there shot two more spikes out of the ball, sticking into his leg. As he slightly flinched with the pain everybody expected him to disappear in a puff of smoke, but he didn't. Instead he fell back into the water and the rest of the clones exploded in small puffs. Bara gasped in shock. "Naruto!" Her voice was filled with worry. They heard a faint laughter come from within the ice shield. "One down, two to go!" The voice of Buredo could be heard from within the shield. "Foolish boy. He actually attacked the shield straight on." Arashi said in a low growl.

Inside the shield Buredo was laughing silently to himself. Now that the kid was out of the way, he could finish off the girl and get it all over with. His laughter was interrupted though as the water started swirling beneath him. "What the?" He muttered. His eyes widened as a light blue sphere rapidly approached the surface. It shot out of the water, followed by Naruto who was holding it in his hand, and hit the man in the stomach. When Naruto had fallen into the water earlier he deliberately made most of his clones disappear, save one. While Buredo and Kenonai had been concentrating on the others he used the clone to complete the rasengan and swam into their shield through the water below. The impact of the rasengan sent Buredo flying, hitting a hole in the shield. Naruto caught his breath, relieved to be out of the water. As he turned to face Kenonai he felt two icy hands suddenly grip his neck. The man lifted him in to the air with a burst of near supper-human strength, keeping him at a distance where he couldn't punch or kick him. Naruto could feel it getting harder and harder to breath as the man tightened his grip. "I will kill you." Kenonai said with a hateful voice. "I will kill you and all your friends." The leaf that was still tied to Naruto's arm slipped off as he scratched at the man's hands and arms. He could see the ice melting rapidly around them as the man was no longer fusing it with chakra. "End of the line" Kenonai said with an evil smile as he watched the young boy's face turn a strange shade of blue. However, that smile was literally knocked off his face as Arashi hit him with his large paw through the now thin layer of ice. Naruto gasped for air as the man released his grip, dropping the boy into the water. The impact from the blow was enough to leave Kenonai unconscious.

The shield structure collapsed, allowing Naruto to see Buredo's body hanging over the branch of a tree. Bara jumped down from Arashi's back, helping Naruto to his feet. "Thanks." He said, taking another gulp of fresh air. "No problem." She said with a smile as they both climbed onto Arashi's back. "Arashi, do you think you can take us to "Gake no aki" mountain?" She asked as she slowly stroked one of his necks. "Yes I believe I can." The wolf answered with a bark-like sound. Holding on to his back, they sped off. Arashi moved swiftly and graciously as he leaped up the trees and from branch to branch. Another sudden pain shot up Naruto's arm. The build up of chakra he needed for the rasengan was taking its toll. Slowly lifting his arm he stared at it in disbelieve. His arm had turned a slight shade of mid purple.

**Sorry if this chapter isn't so great, I didn't have a lot of time to spend on it. Other than that I would like to inform all followers that chances are there won't be another chapter published next weekend and that chapter 7 would be published in two weeks time.**


	7. Deal with it

Chapter 7: Deal with it.

Tsunade:

The halls were quiet and Shizune could hear the echo of her own footsteps as she walked towards the office door. She repositioned the paper files in her arms as she knocked on the door.

"Lady Tsunade." She called out softly. No reply came. Slowly she pushed open the door. The room was dark inside; all the curtains were pulled shut to prevent any of the morning sun from entering the office. Stepping inside she saw the hokage at her desk. She was laying face down on her arms, surrounded by large stacks of paperwork.

"Lady Tsunade." Shizune called out louder this time.

"Huh, what?" Tsunade groaned as she slightly lifted her head. "What do you want?" She asked wiping the sleep from her eyes.

"I just came to give you these." Shizune carefully placed the files she had been carrying on top of one of the other towering stacks that covered the wooden desk. Walking over to the window she pulled open the curtains, allowing some of the bright morning sunlight to flood in from outside.

Tsunade let out another groan as she shielded her eyes from the sudden change of light. "Shizune, close the curtains please. You're giving me a headache."

"Lady Tsunade you should really start working on these." Shizune revered to the paperwork as she ignored the hokage's complaints. Tsunade just sat there, shielding her eyes with one hand and rubbing the side of her head with the other. Shizune started walking around the office arranging some of the files. As she was throwing away some empty envelopes she noticed a bottle lying at the bottom of the dustbin. Picking it up, she could read the label: "Dragon-Fire Spirits".

"Did you drink this entire bottle?!" Shizune asked shocked as she walked over to Tsunade and showed her the empty bottle of strong spirits. If she had been drinking that it would be on surprise that she had a headache.

"I'm not sure, can you please lower your voice. It sounds like you're shouting." Shizune's loud voice was only worsening the pain in her head.

"You can't do this Lady Tsunade. You can't just stay in here for the rest of your life, sleeping or drinking all the time and not doing any work."

"Shizune, lower your voice please." The headache was now turning into a full out attack from the tiny alcohol chemicals.

Shizune slammed her open palms on the desk out of frustration, the impact causing one of the paper mountains to topple over and spread its contents all over the office floor.

"Lady Tsunade, I know this is a hard time for you. I can understand that you just want to be left alone right now, but this time you can't. If something like this had happened a year ago I would have fully understood if you reacted like this, but back then it was only you, Tonton and me. We only had to take care of ourselves. Back then you weren't the Hokage and you didn't have the entire hidden leaf village depending on you."

Tsunade lowered the hand that's been shielding her eyes. She glared at Shizune, a mixture of anger and sadness bubbling up inside of her.

"You think you know how I feel? You think you understand what I'm going through? You have no idea" Shizune stared at her, an almost hurt look on her face.

"If you don't want to listen, then fine work through this yourself." She turned to leave but stopped in the doorway. "And I do know. You're not the only one who cared for them. Remember that."

She didn't even turn to face Tsunade. Having said that she walked out of the office and softly closed the door behind her, leaving the Hokage to think things through by herself.

Sakura:

The water flowed peacefully below her as Sakura gazed over the edge of the bridge. Nothing much has happened in the past few days. The storm, which had probably been the worst they had experienced in years, had prevented anybody from leaving their homes. And now that it had finally blown over and she was able to escape the lonely imprisonment of her own home, there wasn't anybody she could talk to. Most of the others have left early to start with their training. Even Hinata had been seen heading towards the training grounds. The only person that hadn't left aside for Sakura was Ino and she wasn't exactly the person she was hoping to talk to. She sighed inwardly, lifted her head off her hands and started walking towards the shopping district.

She looked at almost every stall with interest. Each was different; some sold beautiful and strange pieces of art while others would lure you to them with the smell of their food. She stopped as her eyes came to rest on a certain ramen stall. In her mind she could almost see the legs of a bright orange jumpsuit sticking out from beneath the top curtains. She shook her head, dismissing the thought. Taking a deep breath she walked towards the stall. As she ducked under the top curtains her nose caught the scent of fresh ramen. She had never actually seen the inside of the stall. It was quite small, basically a counter, some seats and a kitchen in the back.

"Hi, would you like to order something?" Ayame asked with a smile from behind the counter. Sakura thought for a moment.

"Why not?" She asked herself as she took a seat.

Sasuke:

Sasuke was nearly out of breath as he watched another shuriken meet its target. The circle drawn on the tree was rapidly filling with shuriken, kunai knives and other small weapons. He took out another shuriken, aimed and threw it at the target with shocking accuracy and a sudden surge of anger. It struck the tree with great force, half entering the wooden structure before coming to a stop. He took in deep breathes and his arm felt exhausted. Yet he took out another knife and shot it at the circle on the tree.

He didn't know how long he had been out there already, and he didn't care. He preferred the solitude. Out there nobody was around to bother him. Out there e could be left alone with his thoughts.

_"Why?!"_ He suddenly yelled out mentally. _"Why did you have to be so careless, you stupid LOSER!" _He launched another kunai at the tree. _"Couldn't you have taken care of yourself just for once?"_

Anger rose up inside of him like a raging fire. Anger and hatred. He was shocked to find that he had a hatred for Naruto. He hated him for dieing, he hated him for leaving them behind. But more than anything else, he hated himself for not being able to do anything about it.

Kakashi:

Not much has changed about Kakashi. Only difference about him was that he had been visiting the memorial stone more frequently. As he stared at the stone on this particular morning he sighed. He was still slightly shocked that Naruto hadn't turned up. To be honest he truly did come to believe that he would show up on his own, but with every passing day that small glimmer of hope faded more and more. _"He always was a fighter."_ He thought with some hope. "_But is seems this time the fight wasn't his to win."_

**Hi. Sorry about the fact that this chapter is so short and that I didn't have a lot to say about Kakashi. Thanks to all of those who helped me with their reviews. You would notice I tried something new with the way they speak (A tip from Skuares and Cloud Ex-SOLDIER, hope it's easier to read now). Also thanks to TREX19990 for showing me some of my grammar problems (I'll fix those soon). And finally special thanks to Slop The 3rd for all your help. =)**


	8. Old friends and new friends

Chapter 8: Old friends and new friends.

Earlier:

There was no campfire that night because the ground was still flooded with rainwater from the storm. So instead the small group made themselves comfortable on one of the high branches of the trees. Their eyes have adjusted to the dark and except for the cold it was almost like every other night they had spent in the forest. Naruto sat against the base of the tree while Bara sat against Arashi's large figure where he was laying down, his two heads resting on his unusually large paws. It's been dark for a while now and after they had forced down some more Gibonoshita root, all but Arashi who refused to eat it, they sat in silence. Arashi wasn't exactly the talkative type, Bara was in her own little world her mind had created and Naruto wasn't sure what to ask first. There were so many things that puzzled him, who was the oversized dog for instance.

"So… You're Arashi, right." He made sure about the creature's name.

The wolf moved his head in a nod-like manner. "Yes, I am Arashi on kokoro. And what is your name young boy?"

"I am Naruto Uzumaki, a great ninja and the future hokage." He answered proudly.

"It is a pleasure to meet you Naruto Uzumaki, great ninja and future hokage." The wolf bowed his black head in honor, taking Naruto's bragging literally. The boy grinned and scratched the back of his head, pleased by what he just heard.

"Hey Arashi, I was wondering, how long are you staying? I mean, don't you need to go home to where you came from before you were summoned?"

"No young Naruto, my pack is capable of taking care of themselves and I shall stay with young Bara in till I am completely sure she will be safe."

"How did you two meet anyway?"

"I'm not exactly sure." Bara joined the conversation. "The first time we met in person was about seven years ago when Arashi here helped me out of some trouble I ran into with a particularly grumpy store owner. But we have spiritually known each other for almost our entire lives."

"I don't understand." Naruto had that deep-thinking look on his face again.

"Well, you know about the mark on my neck right?" Naruto nodded. "I'm not sure when, but when I was still very young someone used a jutsu to combine our souls. The result was this mark, it unites Arashi and me. Not only can we sense when the other is in danger, but if one of us dies, so dose the other. The secrets to that jutsu have been lost for many years now. And somehow it keep's us spiritually together. So even if we have never met for the first few years of our lives we always knew that there was someone else around."

"Huh? What do you mean your souls were combined?" Naruto was very confused, and curious.

"It's hard to explain." Bara thought for a moment.

"The mark creates an unseen chakra link that is always present. The link is connected to both of our souls and creates a mirror effect; whatever happens to one soul happens to the other." Arashi explained.

"Oh, I see." Naruto nodded in understanding. "But then why wasn't Bara injured as well when those ice spikes pocked holes in your paws?"

"I wasn't injured because only our souls are linked, not our physical bodies."

"There's one more thing that I don't understand. Why would anybody want to connect two souls? So far it sounds like its more trouble than anything else."

"I'm sorry, but I really don't know." Bara apologized. Sometimes she wishes so badly that she did know.

"There are only two reasons for the use of this jutsu." Arashi answered, shocking both Naruto and Bara.

"Arashi, did you actually manage to gather information about the jutsu?" Bara asked. She was partly shocked and partly disappointed by the fact that her friend hadn't told her earlier about this.

"Yes, I apologize for not informing you earlier."

"Well then tell us what the reasons are. Come on all ready." Naruto complained, growing impatient.

"One of the reasons is to kill someone who is hard to defeat. It is quite simple to understand because all you need to use the jutsu is a person who's soul you can combine with that of the person you would like to kill and a sample of the of that person's physical body, hair for example. Then once the jutsu is complete all you have to do is kill the person you combined the other person's soul with and the one you intended to kill shall perish as well." The beast explained.

"I think I understand, but that can't be the reason our souls were combined since we are both still alive and we were both still so young and vulnerable back then." Bara thought out loud.

"Correct. The other reason is if you want to ensure someone is always protected. If you combine someone's soul to another's who is powerful it forces that person to protect whoever you wish to keep safe. This reason is less commonly the cause of someone using the jutsu because most people would prefer to ensure someone's safety themselves and this jutsu uses an enormous amount of energy."

"This doesn't make any sense. Nether of these reasons seem to fit our situation. Are you sure those are the only reasons?" The wolf only nodded with both of his heads in reply.

"Okay, you lost me at "kill someone who is hard to defeat"." Naruto scratched his head in confusion. Bara sighed. She wasn't feeling like explaining everything to him.

"Never mind, just forget about it. I'll explain it some other time. Right now I'm tired." She said as she made herself comfortable against Arashi. "_He sure makes a comfy bed if you're out in the wild." _She thought smiling to herself.

Arashi's white head gave a yawn as he put both of his heads down to rest on his huge paws and soon soft snores came from him he breathed in and out.

Naruto was tired two and soon all three of them were peacefully asleep.

Now (Present time):

Bara blinked the sunlight that creped through the leafs of the trees out of her eyes. She sat up and straight and stretched her arms. She had a great night's sleep. Slowly she looked at a sleeping Naruto and a still snoring Arashi. Smiling to herself she stood up and jumped off the branch. While the others were still sleeping she had decided she might as well go searching for something they could eat. With a sloshing sound she landed with her bare feet in the mud that covered the forest floor. This made her giggle with pleasure. She loved the feeling of mud between her toes. The brown semi-liquid came up to her ankles. As she walked around searching for herbs her feet left a trail of holes in the muddy floor. Lady luck seemed to smile upon her as she came across a Taimaberi plant covered in small ripe fruit. She stuffed as many as she could into the pockets of her black jacket and ate some in the process. They were deliciously sweet as honey. This day was definitely starting off great. Hopefully their luck would hold and they could reach the Gake no aki mountain by the end of the day. Now that she thought about it, it was taking awfully long for them to reach it. She had expected to be there by now. Shrugging she decided to think about it later as she threw another of the sweet fruits into her mouth.

"Are you planning on sharing?" A voice suddenly came from above her head. She let out a small scream as she fell backwards out of shock. The mud made a minor splash as she landed in it.

Naruto was standing on the base of a tree close to the Taimaberi plant; his feet attached to the tree's side as if gravity was some kind of lame joke. Bara glared at him from where she was sitting in the mud.

"Naruto! You nearly scared me to death!" She yelled at him.

He smiled at her and let out a small laugh while scratching the back of his head. "Sorry about that."

But he wasn't forgiven yet. Scooping up a handful of mud Bara launched it at him. The mud hit his cheek, spreading across his face and breaking his concentration. He lost his grip on the tree and with a splash fell into the mud below. She couldn't help but laugh at him as he stood up. His entire front and half of his face was covered with dark-brown near black mud, the white and blue of his left eye were the only colors on that side of his face.

"What was that for? I said I was sorry." He complained as he brushed some of the mud off with his hands.

Bara couldn't answer, she was laughing too hard. "You, you should see your face!" She finally forced out between the laughter.

The laughter seemed to be contagious because soon Naruto was laughing at himself as well. He also scooped up a handful of mud and threw it at his female comrade which had managed to stand up. He missed. The mud passed Bara's head and stuck itself onto Arashi's black fur. The large wolf had appeared behind her while they were laughing.

"What are you doing young ones?" He asked with a confused tone as the mud slipped off his coat. This made the two young teens burst out with laughter again.

"Don't tell me you have been the leader of that pack so long you don't even remember what it's like to play and have fun." Bara said as their laughter finally came to a stop.

"I do remember, but getting dirty in mud wasn't on my list of games." Arashi explained.

Bara took a deep breath as she calmed down. She fiddled in her jacket pockets and tossed one of the small fruits to Naruto. "Sorry that it's a little dirty from the mud."

The boy looked at the small ball in his hands. It was a little dirty form the drying mud on his hands, but other than that it seemed fine. He stuck it in his mouth. Once you got over the sandy taste from the dirt it was actually pretty good.

"You like it?" Bara asked over her shoulder as she tried to force one of the fruits into one of her beast-friend's mouths, not that she was getting anywhere. The wolf was hungry, but muddy fruit wasn't his idea of a healthy meal.

"It's good, but I think I'd prefer some without the mud." Naruto answered as he walked over to the bush covered in the little fruits. He picked one of the little orange balls.

"Wait!" Bara yelled just as he was about to eat it.

"Why, what's wrong?"

She walked over to him, leaving Arashi to sigh inwardly with relief. Grabbing the small fruit out of his hand before he could pop it in his mouth she picked another of the little fruits and showed both to him. The one Naruto was about to eat was a slight redder color than the golden one she had just picked.

"Yours isn't ripe yet, those are poisonous." She explained, handing him the edible golden fruit. "Maybe you should leave the responsibility of choosing the food to me." then turning towards Arashi "And you, I know you don't like fruits but unless you can find a rabbit somewhere out here you are going to eat this." She said with a threatening look.

The beast sighed heavily and forced down the small fruit his friend tossed to him. They ate in till they were full.

Afterwards Bara and Naruto looked at themselves. The mud had dried, covering them with grey coats.

"Maybe we should find the river and wash this off." The mud was already starting to irritate the girl's skin.

"Yeah, that's a great idea. Um, where is the river exactly?" Naruto asked.

"I can smell fresh water in this direction." Arashi started leading the way and soon they came to a river that flowed peacefully between the trees.

"All right!" The boy yelled as he pulled off his orange jumpsuit top and plain black shirt. Laughing happily he dived into the river water. He quickly came up again, shivering fiercely. "So, COLD." The low temperature didn't stop him though as he swam round in circles. "Come on guys, once you get use to the temperature it's actually fun."

Bara stood there hesitantly. Slowly she poked her toes in the slow moving water. It sure was cold. Thinking thing through for a moment she decided that she had to get clean anyway. Taking off her jacket she walked into the river. At first it felt cold as ice, but her skin soon became accustomed to the lack of heat and she found that as long as you don't stay still it wasn't so bad at all.

"It is fun. Arashi, aren't you gonna join us?" She called to her beastly friend.

Arashi only eyed the calm flowing water with an expression of disapproval. "I do not enjoy getting wet." He answered back.

"Come on, you sound like a cat." She tried to irritate him.

"Then I'd rather sound like a cat than swim in this water."

"You're such a fun spoiler, you know." Naruto said as he lay back, his arms folded behind his head, and floated down the stream a little.

"What's that?" Bara noticed the crystal necklace around his neck.

"What? Oh this, it's a necklace grandma Tsunade gave me."

"It's really pretty." She commented with admiration as she rubbed the mud off her arms. Her aqua-blue shirt was the cleanest of all her clothes, probably because her jacket protected it from most of the dirt.

"Are you two done yet?" Arashi was growing impatient where he was standing on the riverbank.

"Stop complaining Arashi. We'll be done soon okay." The girl answered before she dived under the water. She loved swimming, it brought back so many happy memories she had of her father. They used to go down to the stream near her home. She smiled as she swam up to the surface again for air. Not wanting to annoy Arashi too much and having cleaned off most of the dirt she came out of the river. The wolf walked over to her, his large paws still covered in mud.

"Did you enjoy your bath young Bara?"

"Yes, thank you. Sorry for keeping you waiting." She squeezed some of the water out of her hair.

"Huh? Are you done already?" Naruto asked disappointed at having to climb out as well.

"We have to get a move on if we want to get to Gake no aki mountain soon." She replied.

"I wanted to talk to you about that." Arashi said as Naruto was coming out of the river, he was almost clean again now. "Have you noticed that it is taking a lot longer than we expected to get there?" Both Bara and Naruto nodded, Naruto now putting on his shirt and jacket.

"I believe we are going in circles."

"What?! You mean all this time we were traveling we were getting nowhere?!" Naruto didn't like this.

"Arashi that's impossible. You have an excellent sense of direction and we have been traveling along the river all the time, there's no way we are going in circles." Bara explained completely confused.

"I can not understand it either, but something is definitely not right."

"Well then let's just travel next to the river at all times, I'm sure it won't flow in a circle." Bara suggested.

"Good idea. Now lets go" Arashi readied himself for takeoff.

"Wait just a sec." Bara quickly pulled on her jacket that still lay next to the river. In her haste she accidentally knocked the amulet she had been carrying around out of her pocket. Just as quickly as she had realized what had happened she snatched it up off the ground again and stuffed it into one of her pockets. For a brief second she felt sure that she had felt letters engraved into the tiny piece of wood, but she ignored the thought.

"Right, let's go." She said as she took off, the others closely behind her.

**I'm glad to say this chapter is longer than the last. Hope you enjoy. Nothing much to say. Sorry about the low graphics on the new cover, my drawing and computer editing skills aren't that good. Oh and I think I've fixed some of my grammar problems in the previous chapters.**


	9. Thoughts of the enemy

Chapter 9: Thoughts of the enemy.

The man slowly opened his eyes to find that he was in a darkened room, or maybe a tent. Beside him on the floor he could make out the bandaged body as that of his leader. Slowly he lifted his arm and gently moved his hand over his head. It was bandaged up and a cool, wet cloth was placed on his forehead.

"You shouldn't move a lot." Came a soft, sweet voice form the other side of the room. Turning his head slightly to the left Kenonai could see her.

"Nichibotsu… what are you doing here?" His voice was a little weak.

"Me? I'm heading back home with the others. What were you doing out there in the middle of nowhere? That's the real mystery here." The young woman placed the knife she had been using to cut up some herbs gently onto the wooden cutting board on the floor and moved over to the man who had just awoken.

"You had us worried sick you know. We thought you got caught up in the fight with the village." She knelt down beside him, brushing some of her light blond (almost white) hair, which had escaped the loose ponytail at the back of her head, behind her ear.

"Buredo and I got ordered to track down the amulet after we discovered someone had sneaked out of the village with it." He explained. It hurt to speak though because his throat was dry. As if sensing what he was thinking Nichibotsu gently lifted his head and held a bowl of water to his mouth, helping him to drink the much needed resource. After a few grateful gulps she placed the bowl on the floor again.

"Thank you." His voice sounded much better now.

"So you said someone left the village with the amulet? That would explain why we were ordered to turn back." The woman continued their conversation as she moved back to the cutting board.

Kenonai nodded in reply. "You said there was a fight, is father alright?"

"He's fine, only a few cuts and bruises. Tsuyo is fine two, he got out before the battle got ugly. They were some of the lucky ones. We lost many in the battle and would have lost a lot more if we weren't ordered to retreat." She informed him.

"So both father and Tsuyo are alive, that's a relief." He started to sit up but Nichibotsu moved over to him and pushed him gently down.

"I told you not to move." She took the wet cloth off his head and moved back to the cutting board again. "What happened to you two anyway? By the looks of it you've had a hard time."

"That daughter of the chief turned out to be the one who took the amulet."

"The one rumored to bare the mark?" Nichibotsu frowned as she put the cut-up herbs into a bowl and started grinding them to a pulp.

"Yes. And those rumors are true."

She stared at the wounded man, a touch of shock in her pale green eyes. "But that's impossible. That mark hasn't been bestowed upon someone for more than one hundred years."

"I know, but it seems the jutsu had been used not to long ago. What the reason is for them using it I do not know."

"Still, even if she has the mark it shouldn't have been too hard for you to defeat her." The woman poured some clean water into the herb mix.

"True, but the fact that one of those leaf ninja brats was with her made things a little more difficult." He flinched slightly as she applied some of the herb mix on to a wound on his arm.

"I thought they went back to their village the day of the attack."

"They did. Well most of them did. That kid wasn't with them when they left, I presume they believed he was dead. He was the one I told you about the other day, the one who killed Tosho." Kenonai started coughing as he finished speaking.

"Don't talk to loudly okay." Nichibotsu warned. "And it doesn't really matter what happened, as long as you're alright."

"How's Buredo doing?" The bold headed man felt concerned as he turned his head again to look at his unconscious leader.

"He's stable for now, but there is now way of telling how bad his injuries are. Whatever happened to him it caused quite a bit of internal damage. Hopefully there isn't a lot of damage to his vital organs and spine." She told him.

There came a short moment of silence. "Are you going out again? You know, to get the amulet?" Nichibotsu asked, her voice suddenly serious.

"What kind of a question is that? Of course I'm heading out again, as soon as I'm recovered. And if Buredo is too badly injured to continue then I'll find someone else who is willing to help me. It doesn't matter what happens, I will get that amulet."

The young woman was getting annoyed by the man's stubbornness. "Why, why do you want to go out there again? You were so badly hurt when we found you. You could have died. I don't think it's good for you to push yourself like this."

"You know well that it doesn't matter if good for me or not. Tanken ordered us to get that amulet and that's exactly what I'm planning to do."

"If Tanken orders you to jump into a fire would you do it?"

"I don't think that's a fair comparison."

"Well I think it is. If you go on like this you'll destroy your own body." She stopped as Kenonai started coughing again and they suddenly realized how loud the conversation had become. She took a deep breath, calming herself. "I know it's important to you to follow every order you are given, but if you destroy yourself in the process then it's not worth it."

They were interrupted as they heard footsteps from outside. A tall, brown haired man stepped into the tent. "I thought I heard voices." The man greeted with a smile.

"Tsuyo, it's good to see you again." Kenonai greeted his brown haired friend. He started to sit up again but Nichibotsu pushed him down again.

"I told you to sit still." Her voice had a touch of threat in it.

"If I were you I'd listen to her. She tied me to a chair the other day when I refused to rest." Tsuyo said with a smile, his mud brown eyes sparkling with the joy of talking to his best friend.

"I had a good reason." The woman said in defense. "You had been working all day. If I hadn't stopped you, you would have exhausted yourself."

Tsuyo only shook his head in fake pity. "I feel so sorry for you my friend. You had to grow up with this woman and even now in your injured state she's giving you trouble." This got him a punch in the side from Nichibotsu who was still sitting beside Kenonai on the ground.

"Ouch! What was that for?"

"That was for annoying me." She answered. "And now we should be leaving him alone to rest." She continued while standing up and brushing the dirt off her short green dress.

"But I just got here." Tsuyo protested as his friend's sibling pushed him out of the tent.

Being left alone, aside for Buredo who was still unconscious, and having nothing else to do Kenonai closed his eyes to sleep.

Outside the two young adults could see the other tents around them. Unlike where Naruto and Bara were, here the ground was relatively dry because they were on higher ground. Not to far from their tent there was a small campfire with a cooking pot standing over it and a bit further Kenonai and Nichibotsu's father was standing and chopping firewood. Some other people could be seen helping around the camp, treating the ill or injured, searching for something to cook or just tidying up. Nichibotsu sighed as she walked over to the cooking pot and stirred the boiling mixture. Hopefully she would be able to talk some sense into her brother's head.

**Hope you liked the chapter. Personally I don't like the chapters about the bad guys much. I'm already working on the next chapter and it should be published tomorrow. Thanks for all the reviews and to answer your questions:**

**I'll explain the situation with Jiraiya in the next chapter.**

**Naruto will meet up with his friends at the end of part one of the story. Part one = Their journey back to the village – Part two = The adventure of getting Bara home. Both parts will be in the same fic, I'll inform you once it's the end of part one.**

**I don't know what you mean by "the power held by the council".**

**I hope this helps a bit.**


	10. Paths that could have crossed

Chapter 10: Paths that could have crossed.

Shizune was surprised when she went to Tsunade's office that morning. She found the hokage sitting at her desk, working through the paperwork on her desk with the curtains wide open. Shizune had smiled when Tsunade had asked her if she was just going to stand there or if she was going to help her. It seemed that their little talk the other day had finally caused her to snap out of her "condition" and resume her duties as hokage. Right now they were working through some old mission reports. Among them were some of the reports from Jiraiya that got Tsunade wondering what he was doing. He still hadn't returned from his last mission. She stopped wondering what he was doing though as she remembered the town he had gone to was famous for its hot springs. Tsunade sighed as she put yet another checked report onto a separate stack. She had almost forgotten what hard work it was to be hokage.

"Well that's the last of the mission reports." She said relieved as Shizune took the files to put them away. Then she looked around the office at all the other paper mountains that still had to be worked through. One thing was certain; she wasn't going to slack out on the paperwork for quite some time. Feeling hopeless she decided to work through the new mission requests that had come in. Helping out on a farm, finding someone's missing cat, helping out at the academy. None of these seemed to be serious, the genin could help to finish these in no time.

_"This is going to be a long day…"_ She thought as she browsed through the requests and arranged them according to rank Most were D rank, but here and there a C or even a B rank came up. Even these didn't seem too difficult, mostly transport requests. As she was slowly flipping through the files one of them caught her eye. She sat up straight and started reading attentively through the file's pages.

"What does it say?" Shizune noticed that the file had caught the hokage's attention. Tsunade didn't answer her for a while as she read some more of the file's content. Looking up at Shizune her face was serious.

"Shizune, get me Kakashi." She ordered.

Shizune nodded. "Yes milady." She set off to find the masked sensei, wondering what could possibly be written in the file.

A while later:

Kakashi Hatake stepped into the office, placing the book he had been reading in his pocket. He was actually planning to take the afternoon off and go to the bookstore to see if they had any new, interesting books, but Shizune stopped him on the way. She told him the hokage had called for him and now here he was.

"You sent for me." He half said and half asked.

"There came a report from the Bara no tsubomi village. Apparently they were attacked after you had delivered the package." Tsunade told him, getting straight down to business.

"What?" Kakashi looked slightly shocked.

"From previous reports it seems whatever the package contained it could well be a threat to our village. If it happens that a rival village gains possession of it we could be in danger." She continued. "I'm assigning you to go back to that village and get the whole story. Report back as soon as possible."

"Will anybody be accompanying me?" He immediately understood the seriousness of this situation.

"No. You'll be going alone, it's faster that way. The sooner we know exactly what's going on, the better."

Kakashi nodded. Realizing that the hokage had nothing else to say he left the office and headed towards the village gates. Soon he was on the road, heading towards the Bara no tsubomi village once more. He didn't even know that his missing student was coming from the same direction.

Back in her office Tsunade rested her head on her hands. The day had definitely taken an interesting turn. Unfortunately she still had to finish the paperwork stacked all over the office. Sighing heavily she started working through the paper mountains again.

In the forest, half way between the Bara no tsubomi village and the hidden leaf village, Naruto, Bara and Arashi felt relived. They had finally set sight upon the Gake no aki mountain. They would reach it by nightfall and from there it won't take long for them to find their way to the leaf village. It felt like an eternity had gone past since their journey had begun, but it had only been about three weeks. As the sun set and a full moon slowly took its place in the night sky they came to a stop at the bottom of the cliff. The cliff stretched for miles, both to the north and the south. A few feet to their right there was a crack in the stone wall where the river flowed through.

"Not a long way to go now." The young leaf ninja said happily as he helped Bara to start a fire. He couldn't wait to get home, especially because he was tired of eating Gibonoshita root and other herbs. Sometimes he was sure he would die if he didn't eat a bowl of Ichiraku ramen soon.

"It's a really good thing that we are almost there. That arm of yours is worrying me." The girl said with some concern as she looked at her new friend's wounded limb. He hadn't complained about it, but she knew that the pain must be getting worse.

"Don't worry about me, I'm fine." He grinned.

"How about you Arashi? How's that paw doing?" She asked, sitting down next to the small campfire.

"I am fine." The large wolf made himself comfortable on the ground next to Bara.

"Hey, anybody else thirsty?" Naruto asked as he stood up and walked over to the river. As he knelt down for a drink something shined in his eyes. It appeared to be a piece of metal that had reflected the moonlight. Sticking his hand into the water he took it out.

"All right!" He yelled out as he realized what he was holding in his hand.

"What is it?" Bara asked curiously from where she was sitting.

"I found one of the kunai knives that I lost." He said happily as he placed the knife in his belt pouch. After having a drink he went to sit by the fire as well. It crackled peacefully and every now and then it sent tiny sparks into the air, like tiny launching rockets. It sure helped to have a warm fire on a night like this, Bara was glad that the ground had finally dried. Although she liked mud it was a lot nicer to be warm at night.

"I'm sure you'll be glad to see all your friends again." She thought out loud as she started poking a stick in the fire.

"Yeah, I can't wait to tell them all about our journey. Sasuke is going to be so jealous when he finds out, I'm sure he can't fight off two water ninja at once."

"Don't forget we helped." Bara reminded him. Arashi slowly nodded one of his heads in agreement.

"Of course I won't forget that. What, you think that I'll completely forget about all you've done to help?"

Bara giggled. "No, I was just worried that you would get a little carried away when you tell _Sakura_ about how brave you are."

"Again with the Sakura stuff, haven't you gotten bored with that yet?" Naruto crossed his arms out of irritation.

"Nope"

"Sorry about my interruption, but whom is this Sakura?" Arashi asked.

"She's a girl from his village." Bara explained. The blond haired ninja nodded in agreement.

"Oh, I think I understand now." Arashi thought for a while. "Am I correct if I say she is your mate?"

"What, no! At least I don't think so." Naruto was shocked at the giant wolf's misunderstanding.

"Are you sure about that?" The girl teased him.

"Agh, I've had enough of this. I'm going to sleep." Naruto turned his back on Bara and Arashi and laid down. His small outburst caused Bara to laugh and made Arashi very confused.

"Don't worry about it." The girl said to her animal friend as she cuddled up next to him. Soon they were all asleep, excited that they would soon reach the village.

Somewhere, a few miles away, a person was getting ready for the self imposed mission she was about to take. Picking up the bag she had prepared for the journey and pulling the black mask over her face she turned around to look at the person she was doing this for one last time. She closed her eyes, promising herself that she would see him again. She forced herself to forget everything else and focus on the task at hand. Then she turned and disappeared into the night.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11: Home at last.

The young teen found herself standing in a strange room. The room was almost empty except for the girl that was now standing there and a dim light that hung from the ceiling. Everything was blurry. There was no door in the cream-coloured walls and both the ceiling and floor were made up of smooth white tiles. Her bare feet felt cold on the tiled floor. She looked around, turning to see all sides of the room. There were no furniture, no windows, nothing but the dim light. Realizing she was trapped she ran to one of the walls and started banging her fist against it.

"Hey! What's going on here? Let me out!" Her voice bounced off the walls of the small room, echoing several times. The room was slowly filled with laughter. It was a sweet, calming sound. She spun around. In front of her there now stood a young couple, holding hands and laughing together. They didn't seem to notice her as she stepped towards them. The young woman opened her turquoise eyes and stared into the forest green ones of the young man as their laughter faded, both of them seemingly unaware of the dark haired teen that stood next to them. The teen reached out her hand, trying to touch the young woman's golden hair that came all the way down to her lower back, but as her fingers came into contact with the woman's image both the woman and the dark haired man faded into colourful swirls of mist. She stepped back as the mist slowly disappeared. Now the room was empty and quiet again, but not for long as loud voices filled the silence. This time it was only the sound of voices and on images appeared to match the sound. She couldn't understand what the voices were saying, but they sounded serious and agitated.

"What's going on?" She called out, but the voices didn't answer. She felt scared and confused.

"Don't you dare hurt her!" A strong sounding man's voice suddenly yelled. This was shortly followed by the blood chilling scream of a woman. The girl hadn't expected the scream and it shocked her so badly that it literally knocked her to the ground. It felt as though the room was shrinking, walls closed in around her. A baby's cries could be heard along with more laughter, but this laughter was dark and cruel as evil itself. The dim light flickered and soon all was dark.

"Don't worry" The dark voice said. Huge, icy-blue eyes appeared in front of her, staring at her. They were filled with hatred and rage. "It will all be over soon…"

Bara's eyes shot open and she sat up straight with a start. She was breathing rapidly and her clothes clung to her skin that was covered in a cold sweat. She sighed with relief as she realised it had only been a dream. She laid back against the large figure of Arashi and gazed up at the clear night sky, her heart rate slowing to normal. The campfire had been out for a while now and the only light was that provided by the moon and the stars. A light breeze played through the leaves of the trees and the only sounds that could be heard was the soft snoring of Arashi and the sound of the river as its water flowed peacefully through the forest.

The nightmare replayed itself in Bara's head. This had been the third time she had the exact same dream and no matter how hard she tried she just couldn't understand it. It was like building a puzzle but not having all the pieces. She put her hand in her jacket pocket, taking out the small wooden amulet that was responsible for all the trouble they were going through. Gently she stroked its surface with her fingers, feeling its shape as the wood seemed to turn in and out with swirls. It was hard to believe that this small piece of wood could cause so much trouble. She wondered what was so special about it anyway as she started playing with the leather string that was attached to the wood. She knew it had some sort of hidden power, but other than that it was a mystery to her two. Carefully she placed it back in her pocket.

"_We'll worry about that when we get back to the village."_ She thought to herself. The sound of the river made her drowsy and soon she closed her eyes again, drifting off to a now peaceful sleep.

While they had been resting, the masked woman had been moving swiftly through the forest. She had found the trail of those she was tracking and had followed it through the night. Finally she couldn't go any further and she came to a stop on one of the wide branches of a tree. Putting the bag that contained the supplies for the journey on the branch's wooden surface she sat down against the base of the tree.

"_Might as well rest if I'm planning to get them by tomorrow"_ She thought as she also took some time to sleep.

Short time skip:

Considering the speed they were traveling by they would reach the village in no time. After struggling for about five minutes to get Arashi to the top of the cliff the small group had been going towards the village at full speed.

"I can't wait to get there, I'm sure I'm going to die if I have to eat some strange root again." Naruto said as they leaped from one branch to another. A nice, steaming bowl of ramen was all he needed, at least that's how he felt.

"Okay, I understand that the herbs found in this area aren't so good and I'm looking forward to something nice to eat two, but you can at least be grateful that we had something to eat." Bara pointed out, rolling her eyes. _"Is food the only thing he_ _ever thinks about?"_ She wondered. "Besides, the first thing we should do once we get there is get someone to look at that arm of yours."

"Stop worrying about it, it'll be fine. And we are going to be there soon anyway so then we can get grandma Tsunade to look at it, okay?" He didn't want to complain. His arm had been feeling worse lately, but it was nothing he couldn't handle. Bara only nodded in reply.

"Wait." Arashi's telepathic voice suddenly ordered and the large wolf came to a stop on a branch. The others stopped on a branch just ahead of him.

"What is it? What's wrong?" The teen girl asked as she turned to face her animal friend.

Arashi lifted his heads and started sniffing in the air around him. "We're not alone." He said with a growl.

"Really, are you sure?" Naruto asked.

"Positive."

"Can you tell how many there are?" Bara jumped from the branch she was standing on to the one Arashi was standing on.

"Not precisely, but there aren't a lot of them, most likely three or less." His ears moved around, picking up all the sounds around them.

Suddenly two kunai shot out from between the trees, heading straight for Arashi and Bara. Naruto jumped over to the branch they were standing on just in time to block the attack with his own kunai.

"Well it doesn't look like they want to negotiate." He said as the three of them stood ready. Bara graciously jumped onto Arashi's back and seated herself at the bases of his necks.

"All right! Whoever you guys are, show yourselves!" The blond haired teen called out. Nothing happened.

"Come on! If you don't come out, then we'll just have to go find you!" His threats were answered with two more kunai knives that flew towards them. He blocked them easily, using the kunai in his left hand.

"Now you're asking for it. Shadow clone jutsu!" He created five clones of himself.

"Um, Naruto? How are your clones going to help us if we don't know where the enemy is?" Bara pointed out.

"Oh, well, I didn't really think about that." The boy admitted.

"I sense movement over there." The wolf informed them, turning his heads towards the location where his ears had picked up sound. Another kunai that came from that location confirmed his suspicions. The kunai imbedded itself in the branch in front of their feet.

"Good, now that we know where they are, let's go get them." The Narutos said as three of them leaped towards the tree where the knives had come from. A human figure could be seen hidden in the shadows. "Gotcha!" One of the boys yelled as he launched his kunai at the figure. The knife hit its target in its abdomen, sending the figure falling backwards off the branch it had been standing on. "Got him." The boy said with a smile.

"Don't be so sure of yourself." Bara told one of the Narutos that was still standing on the same branch she was. Curious about what she meant one of the boys that was standing on a branch above the spot where the person had fallen peered down at the ground. Instead of a person there was a log on the ground with a kunai imbedded in it.

"Substitution." The boy realized as a kunai came from behind and stabbed him in the back, reducing him to a puff of smoke. Everyone else turned their heads towards the origin of the attack. There on a tree branch stood their attacker. The person wore a short green dress that was tied around the waist with a crimson ribbon. A black mask covered her face and a few locks of light blond hair stuck out from underneath it. The only part of her face that was visible were the two pale green eyes that moved around constantly, watching her enemy's every move.

"So, you finally show yourself. What do you want?" Bara called out to her.

"I think you know well what I want and I don't want to hurt anybody today so way don't you just hand it over." Even though she was talking loudly they could hear that her voice was normally soft and sweet.

"I don't think so, you're not getting anything from us." One of the blond haired boys yelled at their attacker.

"Well then I'm sorry, but if you won't give it to me willingly then I'd just have to take it by force." The young woman sounded almost regretful. "I'm sorry if you get hurt or killed in the process." She took out several shuriken and launched them at the two boys that stood apart from the group. One managed to dodge the attack but the other was struck and transformed into a smoke cloud.

"I'm afraid you're the one who's going to get hurt today." A Naruto said as the three of him that stood with Arashi and Bara moved towards the light haired female, forming a circle around her. "Get ready!" He warned before all four of him came running or jumping towards her, fists readied for the attack.

As the first boy came into reach the masked woman grabbed hold of his outstretched arm and used the momentum of his jump to swing him around, hitting one of the others with his body. Both of them turned to smoke and the two remaining boys, who had been running towards her and not been jumping, stopped in their tracks.

"You're a lucky one aren't you? Your clones seem to be taking all the damage while you stay just out of reach." Naruto couldn't tell if she was smiling or not beneath that mask. "But you clones aren't that hard to beat, are they?"

"We'll see about that." One of the boys said as he made a hand sign and created two more clones of himself.

"Big mistake." Their enemy said as she took out more shuriken. "Now I know which one is the real you."

The real Naruto blocked the shuriken that were thrown at him with his kunai, which he still held in his left hand. Unfortunately for the clone of him that had been standing on the other side of young woman she has sent one flying in his direction as well, and he hadn't expected it. Thus there was one less Naruto clone.

"Nice blocking, but let's see you block this!" Their foe yelled as she sent at least ten shuriken flying towards him at once.

The three Narutos blocked most of them and dodged the remaining few. One of those they dodged shot past them, heading straight for Arashi, who had refused to join the fight unless Bara or Naruto's lives were in danger, and Bara. Before Arashi even fully realized what had happened, the shuriken had already passed over his heads. The dark haired girl let out a small cry of pain as the blade cut into her flesh. It sliced quite deep into her left side.

"Bara!" Naruto yelled in shock as he noticed what had happened.

"I warned you." The woman sounded somewhat shocked herself, as if she hadn't meant to actually hurt anyone.

"I'll get you for that!" The blond ninja yelled as he got ready to launch another attack.

"Naruto, wait." The telepathic voice of the large wolf came from behind him.

"What?" The boy turned his head slightly to look at his canine friend.

"Bara is going to need help. You take her, get to the village as soon as you can. I finish this fight." The wolf answered, growling fiercely at the masked woman.

"Are you sure?"

"Of course I'm sure, besides I can't take her because if she faints along the way then I shall faint two and then we might both die."

Naruto nodded in understanding. With great speed he undid his jutsu, moved over to the branch Arashi was standing on, lifted Bara off his back and headed in the direction of the village.

The masked woman was about to go after them when Arashi leaped onto the branch she was standing on. His heads were slightly lowered, the white and black hairs on his back stood on end and two pairs of white fangs showed as he snarled at her.

"You're not going anywhere." He said to her as he slowly stepped forward. As he stepped forward she stepped backward. She hadn't expected to be fighting an enemy that was as big as the wolf. Hesitantly she took out a kunai and held it ready.

Without warning the beast in front of her leaped forward. He landed with his one paw on top of her, pushing her down onto her back. His fangs seemed to glow blue as his black head opened its mouth and bit into her right arm. With a sudden shock of pain and panic her left arm swung around, stabbing and slicing the wolf where ever she could reach. He backed off, his chest stinging where the knife has cut him.

"You're weakening. Soon you won't be able to defeat me." She said sounding relieved.

"I don't have to defeat you, I just have to keep you busy long enough for them to reach the village." He corrected her, but she was right. He was weakening just as Bara was, and if she were to faint, so would he.

"That won't be so easy. I won't let you stop me!" She snapped back, but he appeared to be giving her a strange, cocky, animal smile.

"Actually I already have."

"What do you mean?"

"Don't you feel it, a tingling in your right arm?" The wolf asked as he stepped forward again.

The young woman gasped in shock as she realized that her arm was feeling strange. She stepped backwards again, keeping the same distance between them. "What did you do to me?"

"Not much, I just paralyzed you. It should be taking effect soon. Then you won't be able to move a muscle."

She stepped backwards again, but her limbs felt rigid and the movement caused her to fall backwards. Arashi walked forward and placed one of his front paws on her throat. He brought his heads extremely close to her face.

"You will be like this for a few hours, which should give them enough time. I shall let you go this once, but if you ever threaten my friends again… I will kill you." He lifted his paw off her throat. "You have been warned." With that he disappeared in a cloud of glittering, blue smoke. He hadn't shown it, but he was exhausted and completely drained of strength. With the last bit of power he had left he had transported himself to his own realm. Once there he howled, informing his pack that he was in need of them. And then he collapsed into unconsciousness.

Naruto held Bara in his arms as he set off towards the village, leaving Arashi to finish the fight.

"You don't have to do this, I'm fine." The girl protested.

"Don't be crazy. If we don't stop that bleeding soon you're going to die." He explained.

"But Arashi." She tried again.

"Arashi can handle himself. Now stop talking before you hurt yourself even more." He warned her as they moved forward. He was going at full speed. Slowly things surrounding them became more and more familiar. Bara's black jacket was now stained with a pool of blood that was still growing larger.

_"She's not going to last much longer." _He thought. "Hold on, we're almost there okay." He told her as they passed another familiar tree. _"Please don't faint now, please don't faint now, please don't faint now…"_ Finally they turned onto the road that leads to the village gate and his hometown was in sight.

Kotetsu Hagane and his partner Izumo Kamizuki were both on guard duty that day. They were busy playing a game of cards when Naruto came towards the village with Bara.

"Hey, what's that?" Kotetsu asked as he noticed the trail of dust created by Naruto as he came speeding towards the village. His friend didn't even have time to react before the boy sped past them in a blur of orange, blond and black. Both men had to blink the dust out of their eyes after he had passed.

"I'm I seeing things?" Izumo asked his friend after his eyes could open again. "Or was that Naruto just now?"

Naruto leaped from rooftop to rooftop, heading straight towards the hokage building. His right arm ached and he was exhausted. Bara had already passed out from the blood loss and that meant Arashi was out two. Reaching the building he ran down the hallway, but he slowed down as he came closer to the office door. He was so tired.

Tsunade had been sitting at her desk when there was a knock on the door.

"Come in." Nothing happened. There only came another knock, not wanting to have any trouble she stood up and walked over to the door. Opening it she got the shock of her live. There stood Naruto, with a girl in his arms.

"Hi grandma."

**I'm sorry to say that I'm not going to be updating for a while due to us moving. **


	12. Chapter 12

**Hi everybody. Before you read the next chapter there are a few things I'd like to report. First of all, we have net connection again so I'll be able to publish (Yay! But I don't know how long it'll last so don't be surprized if I suddenly stop updating for a while). Also we have now moved out of our old house and we're living in a 3 room apartment (I have to sleep in the kitchen). And finally, I'm kind of stuck at the moment with this fic. I know where I want to go with the story but I don't know how I'm going to get there. So if any of you have suggestions on what should happen next, feel free to send a review. **

**Also thanks for all the reviews, I love reading them ****.**

**Okay, I'm done. Hope you enjoy.**

Chapter 12:

_Previously:_

_Tsunade had been sitting at her desk when there was a knock on the door._

_"Come in." Nothing happened. There only came another knock, not wanting to have any trouble she stood up and walked over to the door. Opening it she got the shock of her live. There stood Naruto, with a girl in his arms._

_"Hi grandma."_

_Present time:_

Tsunade felt torn between feelings. Part of her wanted to knock him over for calling her "grandma", part of her wanted to cry with the joy of seeing him alive and most of her felt convinced that she was hallucinating. She didn't have time to choose between her feelings though as the boy's exhaustion and the pain in his arm became too much for him and he lost consciousness. She stepped forward, stopping both the teens' falls and laying them gently on the floor. A few tears of happiness escaped her eyes as she fully realized that this was reality and not a hallucination.

"_No time for this."_ She thought as she hastily wiped the tears off her face with her arm and turned her attention to the teens' wounds. Naruto's wounds didn't seem too serious except for his right arm, which was badly discoloured. The mystery girl's injuries were a lot worse. She had turned pale from the blood loss and the weapon that had most probably caused the wound in her side seemed to still be imbedded in the wound.

"Shizune!" Tsunade called for her apprentice. Her hands glowed a slight blue-green colour as she concentrated her chakra in the palms of her hands. She wouldn't be able to heal the girl's wound because the shuriken was in the way, but she could at least try to stop the bleeding.

"Shizune!" She called louder this time. Shizune's footsteps could be heard coming down the hall at a running pace.

"Get me medic crops." Tsunade ordered her as soon as she came into few. She didn't even have time to ask what's going on before she was sent off to go get some of the medical ninja from the Konoha hospital.

_Later:_

Tsunade was waiting restlessly outside the emergency room. She could go in if she wanted because she was a medical-nin herself, but she had decided to stay outside and had been trying hard to process the information that had been crammed into her mind. First Naruto comes back after he had been presumed dead for weeks, bringing an unknown, critically injured girl with him. And then there was the situation with the other village that had been attacked. All of these events, it just didn't make sense. She sat down on a bench which stood next to one of the white coloured walls and rested her head on her hands.

"_I guess we'll just have to wait till they wake up to hear their side of the story." _She thought with a sigh.

_The next day:_

Sakura walked slowly through the hospital halls, searching for the next room on her list. She had asked if she could help out at the hospital in her free time to give her some medical experience, which would help her a lot in her medical-nin training. So far things haven't been very interesting. Her first patient had been Ino of all people. She had gotten second-degree burns on her hands in a cooking accident. Why she had been cooking in the first place was a mystery, but with her cooking skills it was no surprize to Sakura that the food had committed suicide by setting itself on fire. She ran her finger down the list, stopping at the first room number that hadn't been crossed out yet. Room 207 was the next one on the list. She sighed as she started heading up the stairs towards the second floor. When she had decided to do this she hadn't expected it to take this long.

She checked the numbers at the top of the doors. 201; 202; 203… She walked on in till she finally came to the room where she had to be. Sighing again she started to open the door.

"_Only five more to go for today." _She told herself as she took a deep breath and looked down at the file that contained all the tasks she had to complete for every room.

"_Redressing wounds, this doesn't sound so bad."_ She thought as she stepped into the room, still looking down at the file. Finally looking up she nearly dropped the files she was carrying as she recognized the shock of spiky blond hair that were sticking out in all directions, belonging to the whisker faced boy who's head was sticking out beneath the covers of the hospital bed. She stood there for a moment, too shocked to move. Slowly she regained control of herself, stepping forward towards the hospital bed. She placed the files on the bedside table and stared at the unconscious boy. He wasn't wearing his headband and his right arm was bandaged up.

"_I guess that's the wound I need to redress."_ She started unwrapping the bandages. She felt numb, like her body was moving by itself. She felt confused, shocked and happy all at once. It was a feeling that was hard to describe. Quite honestly she wasn't sure exactly how she felt. She didn't know how to react to the situation, so she just continued with her task of redressing his arm wound. It wasn't in till she finished that she realized her vision was misty and her cheeks were wet. For a second she was convinced that she was dreaming. But the coolness of her tears that rolled down her smiling face proved her wrong.

"Naruto." She whispered in disbelief. Then, suddenly realizing something, she turned around and ran out of the room and down the hall, nearly bumping into one of the nurses in the process and forgetting her files on the bedside table.

"_I've got to tell Sasuke."_

In the hukage's office, Tsunade was sitting at her desk, head rested on her hands. Smiling, she wondered if Sakura had found her little surprize yet.

**Yes, I know it's short. My dad gave me a deadline. I'll update again as soon as possible. Hope to see you all again soon.**


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